Vibrating conveyor with bottom of spaced breaker bars



Aug. 15, 1967 A. MUSSCHOOT ETAL VIBRATING CONVEYOR WITH BOTTOM OF SPACED BREAKER BARS ,fnz/enififvi- (Zlberi Hausa/@0 25,

Filed July 15 1964 United States Patent 3,335,861 VIBRATING CONVEYOR WITH BOTTOM OF SPACED BREAKER BARS Albert Musschoot, Barrington, and Marvin G. Thomson, Prospect Heights, 111., assiguors to General Kinematics Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed July 15, 1964, Ser. No. 382,875 3 Claims. (Cl. 209-345) This invention relates to material treating apparatus and more particularly to a vibratory conveyor constructed and arranged to treat material as it is moved along the conveyor.

It is a general object of the present invention to produce a new and improved treating apparatus of the character described.

While it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the principles of the present invention can be utilized in the treatment of many forms of material, it is particularly adapted for dealing with the castings and the molding-sand lumps which commonly accompany such castings in high pressure molding operations, such as those used in foundries.

In high pressure molding processes, sand is used as the mold and often emerges therefrom in the form of lumps, some of which may be attached to the resulting castings and much of which is in such form that it cannot be reused in further molding operations.

According to the present invention, however, there is produced an apparatus for not only separating the sand from the castings, but also for breaking up the sand into finer and hence re-usable particles. Additionally, the sand and castings are separated to facilitate the handling of the castings and the disposition of the sand.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a vibratory conveying apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed view, in part broken away, of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated, The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a pair of vibratory conveyors placed in end-to-end in-line relationship. As the parts of one conveyor are similar to those of the other, the same reference numerals will be used to designate similar parts, with those relating to the second conveyor being identified by a prime. Thus, the conveyors comprise bases and 10', isolated from supports 11, 11' by isolation springs 12, 12'. On each conveyor there is provided a work member in the form of a trough 13, 13', each carrying on its underside a plurality of brackets 14, to which one end of the links 15 is pivotally connected. The links extend at an angle to the horizontal and are pivotally connected at their lower ends to brackets secured to the base 10. Also extending between the trough 13 and the base 10 is a plurality of coil springs 17, and the combination of springs 17 and links 15 limit the movement of the work members to paths generally inclined to the horizontal so that material carried thereby will be moved in the direction of inclination when the troughs are vibrated in the manner hereinafter described.

3,335,861 Patented Aug. 15, 1967 Each of the troughs is provided with side walls 20 and each may be covered by a hood 21 not only to prevent material conveyed therealong from being tossed out of the trough, but also to reduce the dusting problem which may arise during operation. The bottoms of the troughs are formed by a plurality of horizontally arranged parallel bars 22, relatively closely spaced one to the other, and inclined parallel to the path to which movement of the work members is restricted by the means previously described.

Extending across each of the troughs l3 and 13' are means for impeding movement of the material along the bottom of the trough, such means taking the form in the embodiment illustrated, of dams comprising inclined plates 23. The plates 23 extend transversely of the direction of movement of the material in the trough and between the side walls 20 and each is provided with a pin 24 at its upper end insertable into suitable openings 25 in the side walls whereby inclination of the dams 23 can be adjusted.

Means are provided for imparting vibratory movement to each of the work members 13 and 13', the means comprising an electric motor 30 mounted on the base and driving a rotatable crankshaft 31 by means of a belt drive 32. A crank arm 33 is connected to the crankshaft 31 at one end and is pivotally connected at 34 to the trough at its other end. Thus, rotation of the motor 30 and hence the crankshaft 31 serves to impart a vibratory movement to the troughs 13 and 13.

With the motors 30 and 30 in operation, castings and accompanying sand lumps are introduced into the trough 13 at its left-hand end as shown in FIG. 1. The vibration of the trough 13 serves to move the sand and castings to the right and the bars 22 serve to break up the sand into smaller particles and to separate it from the castings as the sand and castings are moved along the bottom. The dams 23 serve to impede the flow of the larger lumps of sand, retaining them in the bottom of the trough where they are subjected to continued breaking action by the bars 22. Sand, after it has been broken up into smaller particles by the action just described, falls through spaces between the bars 22 onto the surface of conveyors 35 and 35' operating in opposite directions so that the sand may be dumped into a container positioned between the two conveyors at the location indicated by the reference numeral 36. The castings being larger than the space between the bars, continue from trough 13 onto trough 13' and are finally discharged therefrom at the end indicated by the reference numeral 37 at which time any sand clinging to the castings will have been separated therefrom.

Thus, it will be seen that the apparatus of the present invention not only serves to clean the castings of any particles clinging thereto, but also serves to break up the sand into smaller and re-useable particles which are collected for disposition at a conveniently accessible location.

We claim:

1. Conveyor apparatus for breaking up lumps of sand and separating foundrysand from cast parts, comprising an elongated work member of trough-like configuration having a bottom and a pair of side walls, the bottom being formed from a plurality of closely-spaced, longitudinally disposed, laterally extending breaker bars affording openings through which foundry sand may be recovered; means for vibrating the work member in a direction inclined to the horizontal to move material placed thereon in a predetermined path over the bottom and toward one end of the work member, the breaker bars being oriented generally in the plane of vibration of said work member; and a plurality of dams spaced longitudinally of said work member, each dam extending from side wall to side wall transversely of the material to be separated and being inclined generally in the direction of movement of material, each dam impeding the movement of the larger lumps of foundry sand to provide additional breaking action by the breaker bars.

2. Conveyor apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which adjusting means are provided for each of the dams so as to selectively vary the angle of inclination of each of said dams.

3. Conveyor apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which means are positioned beneath the bottom of the work member for collecting material passing through the open- 10 ings between the breaker bars.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MacGregor 209-394 Neifert et a1 209-397 Wantling 209-267 Carrier et all 198-220 Evans et al 198-220 J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT D. BALDWIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. CONVEYOR APPARATUS FOR BREAKING UP LUMPS OF SAND AND SEPARATING FOUNDRY SAND FROM CAST PARTS, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED WORK MEMBER OF TROUGH-LIKE CONFIGURATION HAVING A BOTTOM AND A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS, THE BOTTOM BEING FORMED FROM A PLURALITY OF CLOSELY-SPACED, LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED, LATERALLY EXTENDING BREAKER BARS AFFORDING OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH FOUNDRY SAND MAY BE RECOVERED; MEANS FOR VIBRATING THE WORK MEMBER IN A DIRECTION INCLINED TO THE HORIZONTAL TO MOVE MATERIAL PLACED THEREON IN A PREDETERMINED PATH OVER THE BOTTOM AND TOWARD ONE END OF THE WORK MEMBER, THE BREAKER BARS BEING ORIENTED GENERALLY IN THE PLANE OF VIBRATION OF SAID WORK MEMBER; AND A PLURALITY OF DAMS SPACED LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID WORK MEMBER, EACH DAM EXTENDING FROM SIDE WALL TO SIDE WALL TRANSVERSELY OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SEPARATED AND BEING INCLINED GENERALLY IN THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF MATERIAL, EACH DAM IMPEDING THE MOVEMENT OF THE LARGER LUMPS OF FOUNDRY SAND TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL BREAKING ACTION BY THE BREAKER BARS. 